$15 an Hour Is How Much a Year? (2026 Breakdown)

$15 an hour is $31,200 a year on a full-time schedule — 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. That is $600 a week, $2,600 a month and $1,300 per semi-monthly paycheck before tax. After federal income tax and FICA a single filer keeps roughly $27,249 in a state with no income tax, and about $24,753 in a high-tax state such as Oregon.

Every pay period at $15 an hour

Employers split the same yearly total into different slices depending on their payroll schedule. Here is each one:

How the yearly figure is calculated

A standard full-time year is 2,080 hours: 40 hours a week × 52 weeks. Multiply by $15 and you get $31,200. Two things are worth knowing about that benchmark.

First, almost nobody works an exact 2,080-hour year. Unpaid time off, overtime and mid-year raises all move the real number. 2,080 is the baseline every salary calculator uses, including the one on this page, because it makes different jobs comparable.

Second, the pay period does not change the annual total. A biweekly schedule pays 26 checks of $1,200; a semi-monthly schedule pays 24 checks of roughly $1,300. Both add up to $31,200.

What $15 an hour pays at other schedules

Many $15-an-hour jobs are not 40-hour jobs. Retail, food service, care work and entry-level roles often run 25 to 35 hours a week, so the annual figure is meaningfully smaller:

What $15 an hour is worth after tax

Federal income tax and FICA come out of every paycheck in every state, so they are identical wherever you live. State income tax is the variable. This table applies the 2026 federal brackets, the standard deduction for a single filer, and state rates for a typical salary:

Same wage, same hours — and about $2,496 a year of difference, purely because of where you live. That gap is why the state rate field matters more than most people expect when they compare job offers in different states.

Overtime at $15 an hour

Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, non-exempt employees must be paid 1.5 times their regular rate for every hour worked beyond 40 in a workweek. At $15 an hour that is $22.50 per overtime hour, and the first 40 hours still pay $15.

Overtime is the fastest lever available at this wage: five extra hours a week adds $5,850 a year, roughly a 19% raise, without changing your base rate.

How $15 an hour compares with the federal minimum wage

The federal minimum wage has stood at $7.25 an hour since 2009, so $15 is more than double the legal floor. Many states and cities have set their own minimums above the federal rate, which is exactly why the number $15 has become the benchmark in minimum-wage debates — it is roughly what a full-time worker needs to stay near the poverty guideline for a small household in most of the country.

Is $15 an hour enough to live on?

That depends far more on your city than on the wage. $31,200 stretches reasonably in a low-cost metro and gets tight fast near the coasts, because housing eats the largest share. The common rule of thumb is to keep rent at or below 30% of gross income, which at $2,600 a month means about $780.

Two practical levers if you are earning $15 an hour: take overtime while it is offered (each hour is worth $22.50, not $15), and confirm which state minimum applies to you — if your state requires more than $15, your employer has to pay it regardless of what the offer letter said.

A monthly budget on $15 an hour

At $2,271 a month after tax, the classic 50/30/20 split puts $1,135 toward necessities, $681 toward discretionary spending and $454 into savings:

The rent ceiling that falls out of that budget is about $1,135 before the other essentials are subtracted — below the median one-bedroom rent in many large metros. That gap, more than the wage itself, is what makes $15 an hour feel different in Dallas than in San Francisco.

Three ways to raise the number fastest

1. Overtime. It is the only raise available without changing employers. Five extra hours a week adds $5,850 a year, because those hours are paid at $22.50 rather than $15.

2. A higher local minimum wage. Many states and cities have set their floor above the federal $7.25, and several now require more than $15. If you are paid exactly $15 where the local minimum is higher, you are owed the difference — it is not optional for the employer.

3. A role with a published pay scale. At this wage level, switching employers usually moves pay more than an internal raise does. Public sector, healthcare and large retail employers publish their ranges, so you can see what the next step pays before you apply.

Work out your own numbers

The calculator is pre-filled with $15 an hour, 40 hours a week and no state tax. Change the salary, add your state rate, or enter a 401(k) percentage to see how the take-home figure moves.

Frequently asked questions